In the USA, at least, according to the CDC, cases, deaths per week, and hospitalizations are the lowest it's been since the pandemic began.<p>In early 2022, when at-home testing kits availability became widespread, I was a bit worried that we'd see COVID cases being under reported, since people doing a test at home likely wouldn't get tracked in the statistics. You can sort of see evidence of it as the number of reported COVID cases in May/June/July flattened out, yet hospitalizations continued to rise, though deaths was almost flat.<p>The simple fact is, COVID, like the flu, will never go away. But it's followed the trend viruses tend to do: becoming less severe so they don't kill their host before they can spread it.
So what was a global contagion that affected several lives, businesses, and introduced trillions in debt is no longer an emergency? I would expect a big post-mortem to be done on such a destructive force if it's in the rearview mirror.
Interesting considering this post from the WaPo. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/05/05/covid-forecast-next-two-years" rel="nofollow">https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/05/05/covid-forec...</a><p>"The White House recently received a sobering warning about the potential for the coronavirus to come roaring back, with experts reaching a consensus that there’s a roughly 20 percent chance during the next two years of an outbreak rivaling the onslaught of illness inflicted by the omicron variant. A forecast from one widely regarded scientist pegged the risk at a more alarming level, suggesting a 40 percent chance of an omicron-like wave. "<p>I for one am ignoring official COVID stats and focusing on excess deaths and wastewater readings since the government is winding down collection guidelines. Hospitals no longer report infections acquired while receiving care, there no lo longer subsidized PCR test sites, free COVID rapids are no longer available after May 11th.